Mortgage Market News - Phoenix, AZ

I would like to wish you all a Happy and Safe Independence Day! Take time to rest, relax, and be thankful for the freedoms that we have as Americans.  Also, let's put aside our opinions about the war and remember those who fight for our freedom all around the world, which allow us to enjoy what we have in this country.

Lastly, keep our country, our troops, and their families in your thoughts and prayers this weekend and always!

~ Anthony

When I made the transition in to the mortgage business, one of the thing that gave me an advantage over the competition was my kowledge of Internet Marketing. I had just sold my share of the Internet Marketing Consultancy that I had founded and needed to do something that was not in competition with my partenrs for a year. I was totally fine with this because I needed a break, and of course, the mortgage industry was experiencing good times.

As a former real estate agent and developer, I had lots of contacts in the industry but there was no guarantee they would all jump to do business with me unless they had a reason to leave their current providers. Some did for which I was thankful, but much of my business - both from customers and real estate agents - came through my online marketing activities.

Over the past several years, I have launched several mortgage an real estate related websites which send me thousands of monthly visitors. Most of all, these are targeted visitors - those looking for my products or services - as my websites are coded to rank well based on what people are searching for in the market. Let me share with you some tips which have helped me obtain multiple top-ten rankings across multiple search engines ofr the past several years resulting in with new contacts, prospects, and closed transactions.

1. Know what people are searching for. I often hear people say "I am number one of (insert term or phrase here). The real question is "are people actually searching for that?". The key here is doing some keyword research. There are several free tools out there that can help with this, but investing a little money can go a long way in that you will have more accurate data.

2. Have a website with a blog. Having a website is great, but because there is so much competition, websites with blogs often rank much better in search engines. Mostly this is because of the new content that is continually added to the blog. So take note, the key is posting often.

3. Utilize Paid Search Marketing. If anyone asks me what's the best use of money to promote a business, I would say that paid search is pretty close to the top. Why? Becuase you get a direct result from your investment in that your web traffic is generated nearly instantly. Keyword research & geo-targeting are critical here to insure that you are getting targed web traffic or you will be throwing money away. Please also know that you need to set your daily limits and watch your campaigns very closely or you could spend a fortune and not kow until it's too late.

4. Capture your visitors information. One of the biggest flaws people make with their websites is to drive traffic to a website and not have a way to know who visited or follow up with them. The best way to capture this information is to offer a free newsletter, or even better, a free downloadable product in exchange for the prospects name and email. If you can get a phone number as well it makes for a stronger prospect and allows you to follow up more direclty with them.

5. Learn & Practice Internet Marketing. I certinaly can't give you the A to Z's of Internet Marketing in one blog post, nor can I put it into practice for you. As you invest little bits of time into your Internet Marketing strategy, you will start to see results and you can continue to build on your successes. I have written two books that may help you as you grow your business. The first is The Market Seems Slower When you Don't Have Clients and it was written with real estate professionals in mind. You can pick up a copy here: http://www.afpaci.org/get-clients/ The second book is Internet Marketing Secrets from the trenches and is in the process of being updated. You can register to be notified when it is completed and qualify for a discounted price by pre-registering. Visit: http://www.webtrafficteam.com/ebook to register. I hope you find this helpful and I look forward to your feedback. If you would like professional Internet Marketing advice, feel free to contact my firm, Web Traffic Team at 800-461-6207 or email me.

ABSOLUTELY! While the rules have changed drastically with regard to mortgage lending, bankruptcy and foreclosure are not the end of the world.  Granted, there will be a time of recovery, and during that time, you need to rebuild your credit.  I know I am stating the obvious, but the key here is documenting what happened, proving your ability to be financially responsible by paying a monthly housing payment (very often rent, but don't get discouraged yet), and waiting until the marks are far in your past.

Now, here is the good part.  While you won't be able to qualify for bank financing for some time, you CAN get a home after bankruptcy or foreclosure under the right circumstances and here is what you need to look for.

1. Owner Financing. There are lots of investors out there that are desperately seeking renters and many will offer creative financing.

2. Rent With Option to Buy.  This is a great way to check and see if you want to live in an area or if the property is right for you. Price is usually not set up front - which can be good or bad depending on the market. A common practice is to pay aboe market rent and have a portion of that credited towrds your down payment.

3. Lease-Purchase. While this may require more of a down payment, it is a great option for establishing ownership. Essentially the home is yours with a pre-closing lease agreement. Just make sure the lease gives you enough time to recover which is usually 12-36 months depending on whether you have a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, Chapter 7 bankruptcy, or foreclosure - respectively).

Most of the time you will need to do your own research to find these deals. I recommend checking online sites like Craigslist and Backpage. Your local real estate agent may be able to help as well, although the owners may struggle with paying for their services.

In all cases you must beware that these folks themselves may be in a bad situation financially. You need to do some due diligence to make sure the home actually belongs to them (and that they don't just have a contract), or that they themselves are not in foreclosure. I have gotten the call where a tenant if forces out of their home because their rent money was going to other things besides the mortgage - it's not a fun call to get. I recommend talking to a local real estate agent or title company who can help you assess ownership and lien status.

To get the full scoop on financial recovery after a bankruptcy or foreclosure, I recommend getting a copy of The Bankruptcy Mortgage Book.

In a recent survey, 89% of the people surveyed said that the #1 reason they did not call his or her real estate agent for repeat business is that they could not remember who they were or how to reach them. It's sad but true that many "sales professionals" are not the best at following up (or following through in many cases). But that adds up to lots of lost business.

Here is the good news.  What if I told you there was a system out there that did all of your follow up for you and didn't cost you a penny.

I have a system that not only provides complete follow up with your customers on your behalf for 4 years, but also has a streamlines portal to allow you to track the deal from pre-qual to closing, sends an anniversary gift to your clients, AND pays for their appraisal.

Here is what my customer and agent retention system offers (at no cost to you):

1. The ability to submit a borrower prospect by just logging in to a secure system and entering their name and phone number. A loan officer will call them back promptly with the goal of providing a no fee or minimal fee loan. The reason we can do this is because the loans are done by a Federally Chartered Bank and we have a streamlined system and low overhead.

2. The system allows you to log in and track your borrowers from pre-approval to closing without having to call the loan officer, processor, or underwriter.

3. We provide a closing gift for your customers.

4. We also provide a 1st Anniversary after closing gift (how many people are giving these out?)

5. Our system closes loans in 30 days or less.

6. We offer your customers any banking (Conventional, FHA, HELOC), sub prime, or commercial loan product.

7. A refund of your customers appraisal at closing (limited to one appraisal)?

8. A customer retention system that will follow up with your customer for the next 4 YEARS and inform you whenever a mailer goes out. - Remember, people don't call you back for their next real estate deal not because you didn't do a good job, but because only 11% of people surveyed could remember their Realtors name or contact info. With this system, you won't lose those referrals and it won't cost you a dime.

9. I will add you to my personal realtor database for referrals.

Contact me today if you want to get registered for this program or if you have any questions. There is no obligation and everything to gain. This is truly the simplest system you will ever encounter.

But what's the catch? Well, I have to get the business. All you have to do is send me your prospects and I will discuss their mortgage needs with them and get them in the system under your tracking login (the company will send this to you), or you can enter them yourself. It's probably best that I talk to them first to expedite it and make sure there aren't any red flags, but hey, if it's 2AM and you need to enter it, you can always log in and go for it and I will get an email in the morning when I get up. You will also get tracking emails along the way.

I look forward to working with you and helping you capture those repeat customers!

While the down turn in the market has affected tens of thousands of people negatively, there is an upside.  I want to be very sensative to those that have taken great losses in this market.  If it's any consolation, I took a very big loss myself in more ways than one as the market tanked. I am happy say that I had no part in any of the shady loans that were written over the past several years.  I had people on more than one occasion tell me about this person or that person who made all of this money as a lender, wondering why I wasn't lving like a king.Well, some of those people are actually headed to jail, and thankfully I have a very clear conscience.

So now it's rebuilding time for both those that lost homes and those that never were able to invest in a home of their own.  There are several strategies out there for both the first time buyer and those that are recovering to acquire propperties.

For first time buyer, I say talk to a lender and see where you stand. You might be surprised to know that you can still buy a home with a decent interest rate, with very little out of pocket (3% is ideal).

If you have had a loss, such as a foreclosure or bankruptcy, then things will be very different for you.  For the next 2-3 years as you recover, your best bet is one of the following:

• Owner Financed Properties
• Rent To Own Properties
• Lease Purchase Properties

Each has it's ups and downs, but most of all make sure you are ready for the committment.  Not owning a home is not the end of the world.  In fact, if you are going to buy, make sure you are buying for the long haul, because while it is a great time to buy, there is not guarantee that you will see much of an increase for some time to come.A great book to help you recover is The Bankruptcy Mortgage Book. It gives you all you need to recover, and it also details each of the above scenarios.